


Let me hear your voice

by 3cheers4sweet_romance



Series: Sing it for the girls! [1]
Category: My Chemical Romance
Genre: Alternate Universe - Always a Different Sex, Awkward Crush, F/F, Female Frank Iero, Female Gerard Way, Platonic Female/Female Relationships, Shy Gerard Way, Singing, Unresolved Sexual Tension, stage fright
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-04-29
Updated: 2016-04-29
Packaged: 2018-06-05 05:16:17
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 5,742
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/6691153
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/3cheers4sweet_romance/pseuds/3cheers4sweet_romance
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p><br/><cite></cite><br/>"The encounter was brief if you measure it in minutes, but it was long enough to make a deep impression on Frankie. She wanted to hear Gee's singing voice again and she wouldn't rest until she'd make her sing again."</p><p> </p><p>In this fic, Gee sings random ABBA songs and Frankie tries, with various degrees of success, to convince her to audition for the position of lead singer in a newly formed band.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Let me hear your voice

**Author's Note:**

> My first fic where both of them are girls!

It’s not that Gee hates her new job, seriously, working in a pastry shop is not that bad, especially compared to her previous position as a deli clerk. That gig was hell, for real, particularly on weekends.

This job is not her dream job, of course. Her dream job would be in a completely different setting, something involving lots of artistic creativity, storytelling, music, all kinds of music, self-expression and…

Yeah, this is not it, but it’s okay. The work hours are convenient; the pay is not that good, but enough to pay the bills, and she gets to sell delicious stuff all day, which she wouldn’t have considered a perk a few months ago, before she started working here, but, since then, she has discovered that she takes an unexpected pleasure on watching people’s expression change as they come in, get close to the counter and marvel before the wide selection of delicious, kind of cute, sugary things they have on sale. She actually enjoys watching people, especially kids, almost vibrating with excitement as they wait for her to put all the baked goods that they previously selected, into a pink, thin cardboard box or a paper bag, that then they take with the utmost care, as it contained some kind of treasure.

So, she’s come to discover that pastries are ones of those little, everyday things that make people happy. Seeing people happy, makes you happy, right? At least for a little while, and having an employee discount in this store is downright cool, so she doesn’t really hate the job. The thing is that, well, it is damn repetitive.

Every single day she comes in and follows the exact same routine as written in the employee handbook and that gets boring very fucking soon. Especially when she’s already spent four hours behind the counter and another one in the back room, cleaning the place, taking out the trash, piling up boxes and checking the stock of plastic containers.

She could have some space to be creative if she was the one baking and decorating stuff in the headquarters, as Linda, her boss, likes to call the shop in Hoboken. But given that Gee can’t bake shit, she’s stuck here,  counting plastic containers by herself and in a complete silence because May, her sixty-year-old coworker, left about ten minutes ago and with her, she took her boombox, a big, old thing, probably one of the first they made back in the eighties, but that still works pretty good and that Gee really appreciates. She does because it has become the only source of musical setting in the shop since Gee, in an amazing, rarely-seen-before, display of clumsiness, dropped her iPod in the toilet. She didn’t even try to save it. No, she just stared it, bubbling sadly as it sunk down in the -why god?! Why?!! - yellowish water, and saw her dreams and hopes drawn along with it.

Leaving her grief aside, she’s usually okay with being alone with her thoughts. Tonight, though, her thoughts are getting darker as the minutes pass, so she really needs a distraction.

Admittedly, the musical distraction that May’s sound equipment provides is not exactly of her liking. It only reproduces tapes. Gee doesn’t have any tapes. She stopped buying tapes when she was in high school or something, so she has to rely on May’s playlist which basically consist of playing ABBA songs all day long. See, she’s a hardcore fan and has and enormous and totally extravagant altar dedicated to the Swedish, now-long-ago-disintegrated band in her house, or so she imagines.

So, because of May’s little obsession, in the lapse of two weeks, Gee has memorized the lyrics of all the songs ever played by ABBA, not only by sheer force of repetition and some subliminal power behind the tunes, but because, well, she kind of likes them. They’re catchy, and some of them are fun and make you dance against your better judgement, so now Gee finds herself singing them when she’s in the shower or while she’s making breakfast.

What was that song she was singing earlier? Oh, yeah, it was:

“Love me or leave, make a choice but believe me, I love youuuuu, I do, I do, I do, I do, I do”. Gee sings out loud completely unaware that someone is at the back door.

“I can’t conceal it, don’t you see, can’t you feel it? Don’t you tooooo, I do, I do, I do, I do, I do”.

The door opens suddenly. Gee turns back as she hears a sound coming from that direction.

“Oh, I’ve…” she clamps her mouth shut as she sees who just walked in. It’s Frankie, her boss’ daughter. She opens wide eyes and kind of splutters and coughs at the same time in what seems to be an undesirable effect of shutting your mouth abruptly in the middle of a song. Meanwhile, Frankie is just standing there, staring at her with those lovely eyes of hers that, right now, are very effectively conveying total astonishment.   

“What was that?” Frankie asks.

Gee blinks owlishly. “What?”

“You were singing,” Frankie says, raising her eyebrows and pointing a finger at her.

“Uh…” Gee falters. “Was I?”

“Yeah”. One of those utterly cute smiles that tend to turn Gee into goo slowly appears on Frankie’s face. “You were”, she says with a giggle. “You have a very nice voice”.

Gee stares at her some more until her brain registers that she has to respond to that compliment. “Thank you,” she answers tersely.

“Can you sing some more?” Frankie gets as few steps closer and she looks so strangely hopeful.

Gee doesn’t know what to do with that so she immediately says: “No”.

Frankie’s whole expression changes as she hears that answer. “Why?”

Gee presses her lips together, looks down at the floor, and then back at the girl standing in front of her, looking for something appropriate to say.

“I don't sing for other people”, she finally says. As weird as it sounds, it is true.

Frankie doesn’t understand it, of course. “How so?”

“I...” Gee would like to explain it, but she just can’t do this right now. “I only sing for myself, I don't...” She shakes her head vehemently. “I don't like singing for other people”.

“But...”

Before this whole awkward exchange can continue any longer, Gee stands up and goes to put the pile of containers in its respective place across the room. Then, after taking a deep reassuring breath, she turns to Frankie and goes into a full business mode.

“The money is in the register,” she says, grabbing a sheet of paper from the work table that she then offers to Frankie.  “Here’s the list of orders. Mr. Solomon has changed his previous order: instead of cannoli, he wants macaroons, and instead of peanut butter cookies, he wants lemon and white chocolate.  I wrote that down at the end of the list”. She explains as she hastily unties her apron and takes it off. She tosses it on the work table, then she takes her coat from the back of the chair where she was sitting moments ago, and puts it on. “We’re low on plastic containers,” she continues. “So please tell Linda to bring an extra box tomorrow morning. I…” She dares to glance up at Frankie before grabbing her bag. “I have to go now,” she says under her breath, already starting to walk towards the door and not giving Frankie the opportunity to object to, well, anything. 

“Bye Frankie”.

Frankie just blinks at her, still holding the sheet of paper in her hand. “Bye Gee”.

 

*********************************

 

“Ugh!!!!!!” Gee growls, facepalms, and kind of slaps the steering wheel numerous times, but any of those actions are helping her at all to get rid of this feeling of utter embarrassment and frustration and... “Ugh!!!!!”

She’s sitting in her car now, a place that should be private enough to allow her to have this little meltdown without bothering people or having people bothering her, but giving the look that the couple that is passing by is giving her, those thin glasses on the windows cannot provide her with enough privacy and, well… Fuck them! Fuck the people passing by, fuck the windows of the car, fuck everything!

Why did Frankie had to listen to her singing?! Gee throws her head back dramatically. She wasn’t supposed to be there. It is Linda the one that comes in every day at seven p.m., takes the cash from the register, receives the orders for the next day from Gee and closes the place. Linda, not Frankie. Frankie only comes every once in a while when Linda can’t make it for any reason and…

“I guess she couldn’t make it tonight,” Gee concedes rather reluctantly.

But why did Frankie have to arrive at the precise moment when Gee was singing her heart out?! She was singing I do by ABBA, for fuck’s sake, one of the cheesiest songs from one of the cheesiest bands as if Frankie needed any more evidence to tell that Gee is so utterly uncool.

“Ugh!!!!!”

After kicking the floor and slapping the steering wheel some more, the pent up energy resulting of her past moment of humiliation subsides and she starts to calm down.

So, here’s the thing: Gee has a massive crush on Frankie, and no, when she says massive she is not exaggerating. It started from the moment they met, when Gee first started working at Linda’s Pastry Emporium.

 Frankie was the one who trained Gee. They spent a week together as the younger girl taught her how to do things around the shop, deal with customers, use the register and stuff. So, during her training period, her duties basically consisted in following Frankie everywhere as the latter talked and did things and explained Gee how to do them. It was fun, especially when they had to get in the van and do some delivery. They would be talking about music, movies, comic book and about life in general while listening to The Misfits or Black Flag or any other band Frankie was into at the time.

Gee remembers laughing so hard that her face hurt, one afternoon as they were on their way to Newark, when Frankie told her about her numerous misdeeds in catholic school. She also remembers turning to look at the other girl after their laughter subsided and seeing Frankie’s hazel eyes glinting with sparkles of gold as the sunset light illuminated her face while they rode along the roads of Jersey. 

So, yeah, that’s how the crush started.

Gee was reluctant to admit her feelings, even to herself, maybe especially to herself because Frankie is basically her boss and dating your boss is never advised as a wise career move. Also, there’s the fact that Gee doesn’t even know if Frankie is into girls or not. Sure, she has this androgynous style going on, with her punky outfits, the one side of her head shaved while a long fringe falls carelessly over her face from the other side, and with all the tattoos, but Gee doesn’t like to make assumptions based on people’s appearance and she can’t just drop it casually in conversation like: “Hey, I recently discovered that I like girls, how about you?”

So Gee’s been trying to keep this thing secret. The only other person who knows about it is Mikey, not because she told him, but because he seems to be able to read her mind sometimes or maybe because he once saw her blushing randomly while talking about her, but whatever.

Gee is good at hiding crushes, she just has to focus on avoiding her body going all crazy with those stupid reactions that you have when you see your crush and that’s it. Although, sometimes she would like to do something about it like closing the distance between them and flirt, let her know that she likes her somehow and see what happens but…

Why does she have to be so fucking awkward? Why she can’t act normal around people she finds insanely attractive? Why?!!!

Gee whines some more before turning the engine on and driving to her house.

 

 

************************

 

The encounter was brief, if you measure it in minutes, but it was long enough to make a deep impression on Frankie. She wanted to hear Gee's singing voice again and she wouldn't rest until she'd make her sing again.

 

************************

 

A few days later, Frankie walks into the shop.

“Hey,” she says cheerfully and Gee, who is sitting behind the counter and whose nose is buried in the latest issue of her favorite graphic novel, is startled by the sound of her voice. Frankie’s been coming to the shop unannounced all week, so Gee should be accustomed to that by now, to unexpectedly see her walking in. But no, at the sight of her, her heart immediately starts to thump, as it always does.

“Hi,” Gee replies with what she hopes is a nice, friendly smile.

Frankie grins at her in response. Gee loves the way that her eyes gleam when she smiles like that so maybe she stares a little longer than is strictly polite.

Frankie’s eyes flicker after a moment of silent staring. Finally, she looks down at the trail that she’s carrying.

“One trail of freshly baked cinnamon rolls, as you ordered,” she says, putting the trail over the counter.

“Thank you,” Gee diligently takes the lid off the bread bin and grabs the clamps. As she starts transferring the rolls from the trail to the bin.  Frankie gets close, puts an arm over the counter and leans against it.

“So…” Frankie starts talking after a moment. When Gee turns to look at her, she is worrying on her lip ring, so Gee has to look in the opposite direction because the way that her teeth graze over the pink, fleshy side of her lip it’s just too enticing.

“I’m in a band,” Frankie says casually, “Did you know that?”

Of course Gee knows. Everyone that knows anything about Frankie, knows that music is her biggest passion and that lately she’s been trying to put a band together, another band, actually, because Frankie’s been in like five different bands in the past ten years.

“Sure,” says Gee. “You’ve mentioned it before”.

“I have, haven’t I?” Frankie says mildly, putting her other arm over the counter and looking at Gee intently.

Gee kind of frowns at her. Frankie is acting a little weird today and that doesn’t go unnoticed. 

“Well, we’re looking for a vocalist,” the other girl says.

“Yeah?”

“Yeah, and we want you to audition”.

“What?!” Gee barely manages not to drop the still warm cinnamon roll that she just took and puts it back on the trail along with the clamps.

“We want you to audition,” Frankie repeats.

“Why would you want that?!” Gee says dumbfounded. “And who are _we_?”

Frankie chuckles at her overreaction. “Because you have a great voice,” she explains. “And _we_ are me, Ray, Bob and Bryan. Well, Bryan wasn’t there when we discussed this, but I’m sure that he wants you to audition too”.

Gee squints at her, thinking that Frankie has gone completely insane. “I don’t know any of those guys and I don’t have a great voice. I don’t know where you got that from”.

“I listened to you singing the other day,” Frankie says as if that explains everything.

Gee snorts a humorless laugh. “I was singing a cheesy love song by ABBA”, she says pointedly. “And if I remember correctly, you couldn’t have listened to me singing for more than a minute and a half. That is not enough time for anyone to decide if a person has a great voice or whatever”.

“It was enough for me,” Frankie’s tone is so earnest now. It’s like she actually believes that, like she actually believes that Gee has a great voice. It’s unsettling.

“Gee,” May chimes in, poking her head through the door of the back room. “Those boxes back there are not going to pile themselves up, you know?”

“I know,” Gee replies in a monotone. “Just give me a minute”.

“Frankie!” May exclaims fondly when she notices the other girl standing with her hip against the counter, and immediately walks closer. “How’s your mom doing?”

“She’s fine.” Frankie nods at her. “Her ankle is not so swollen now and the pain has decreased considerably.”

“Oh, I’m glad”.

As the two of them fall into conversation, Gee takes the clamps in her hand again and swiftly puts the rolls inside the bin without even caring to pile them up correctly.

“Luckily it was just a sprain, not a fracture,” Frankie continues to explain. “But she won’t be able to drive for another week or so, so I’ll keep visiting you daily until then”.

“That’s great hun, we enjoy having you around, don’t we, Gee?”

Both May and Frankie turn to look at Gee, who had just taken the distraction to sneak out unnoticed. She stops short in front of the door -so close, she was so close -, turns around and locks eyes with Frankie.

“We do,” she mutters with a little nod, and disappears into the back room.

 

********************************

 

That didn’t work the way that Frankie had expected to and she knows why: she hesitated for a moment and she wasn’t assertive enough. But she also knows how to correct her previous mistakes: she needs to be adamant and she needs some backup. More importantly, she knows exactly who to turn to.   

 

********************************

 

It’s past seven, time to close the shop. Linda hasn’t recovered the full mobility of her foot and she’s not advised to drive yet, so Gee knows exactly that Frankie is about to walk in through that door at any moment and she is not taking her by surprise this time. No way. Gee’s been staring at the back door and she’s ready to…

“Gee?”

Gee jumps, startled, at the mention of her own name. She turns around and sees a pair of hazel eyes, glinting mischievously by the threshold.

“Frankie? How did you get in?” She asks because, is Frankie hiding some teleporting powers or something like that? Gee doubts it, but in this world, everything seems to be possible.

“I walked through the front door,” Frankie explains with a small smile; her thumb pointing back over her shoulder. And of course, Gee left the front door open. She rolls her eyes at herself.

“Okay, so…” she recovers quickly and is about to recite her daily end-of-the-work-day litany, but then Frankie cuts her off.

“Gee, I know exactly where the money is; I know that you’re probably low on plastic containers this far in the week; and I basically know Mr. Solomon’s Fridays order by heart, so you don’t have to repeat that to me. I trained you, remember?”

“Uh…” Gee just blinks. She definitely didn’t expect being told that. She’s rendered speechless.

“And before you try to scape,” Frankie adds; her tone and her expression turning serious. She takes Gee’s coat from the back of the chair and puts it protectively under her arm. Gee could still try to scape, even without her coat, although it is fucking freezing outside and she doesn’t want to catch a lethal cold or something, so she waits to hear what Frankie has to say and for her to relinquish the piece of clothing.

“I want to talk to you about that thing,” Frankie tells her.

Gee raises a wary eyebrow at her. “What thing?”

“About the audition”.

Gee lets out a long-suffering sigh. She thought that by now, Frankie had already forgotten about that.

“Frankie,” she starts with a weary tone. “I told you, I don’t sing for other people, I don’t do auditions, I don’t want to be in a band and I don’t have a great voice. I honestly don’t know where you got that idea from”. 

“It’s not an idea,” the other girl tells her in all earnest like the time before. “I know for a fact that you’re an awesome singer, that you dream of being in a band and I also know that you’ve done at least one audition in the past”.

“I…” Gee frowns and blinks in confusion because, okay, all that is true and Frankie is blatantly calling her on her bullshit. If there’s one thing that she hates is being called on her bullshit, so she can’t help the hint of defensiveness that accompanies her response.

“It was an audition for a school play,” she admits, but there’s still a very important question hanging in the air. “How do you know all that, anyway?”

“I talked to Mikey” Frankie informs her.

“Mikey? My brother?”

“The one and only”

“Do you know him?”

“Everyone in Jersey’s music scene knows each other”. And yeah, that’s also true.

Gee is feeling rather disconcerted right now, but at the same time, she’s not that surprised that if someone was plotting a scheme to make her sing out, in public, Mikey would be behind it, somehow. 

“So,” Frankie takes a step closer with determination. “I have your brother’s testimony and I also have some evidence caught in film”.

“What?!” Gee squints at her. “What are you talking about?”

“Well, I am in possession of a video that proves that you are a very talented singer and that you do enjoy performing”.

“What video…” Gee’s eyes widen and her mouth forms a perfectly shaped O as realization settles in. Frankie must be talking about that video that Mikey filmed during the last edition of the New Year’s Eve party at the Way house. Somebody had brought a karaoke machine and, Gee, feeling brave after consuming a considerable amount of alcohol, grabbed a hold of the mic and sang her little heart out for the amusement of her also drunk relatives. She sang, danced and pranced -quite literally-, and she even did some random moaning during the chorus of a Michael Jackson song.

Mikey swore that he had deleted the video, he swore, but he lied, he blatantly lied.

When Gee turns to look at Frankie searching for confirmation, she just nods sagely. Gee´s long string of humiliating moments seems not to have an end.    

“Mikey showed it to you?” She asks because she needs to confirm that bit of information so she can prove before of a jury that the murder of his brother, that will occur some day in the near future, was totally justified.

“Actually, it was your mom”. Frankie tells her, and no, Gee can’t murder her mom, that’d be too horrible.

“My mom?” Gee asks weakly.

 “Yeah, I met her the other day when I went to your house looking for Mikey,” Frankie explains. “She’s nice. We talked for a bit and she even offered me some cookies.”

Cookies?” The very same cookies that Gee had brought home the day before, for sure. Well, that’s pretty much the definition of betrayal. And why does Frankie let herself be charmed by some cookies? She sales those cookies for crying out loud.

“So, the audition is next Sunday at five in Ray’s house. It’s a little far from where you live, but I can take you there if you want,” Frankie offers and, what? Gee never said yes to this madness.

She tries to explain that yet again.

“Look, Frankie, I don’t think you’re understanding what I’m saying: I can’t sing in a band because I don’t like singing in public”.

“But why not?” Frankie insists. “I know that you have experience performing on stage, you even were in a musical when you were younger.”

A musical? Oh god! What did her mom tell to Frankie.

“It was a dumb school play,” she clarifies. “I was playing Peter fucking Pan since there wasn’t a boy in the entire school that would play that role willingly. So, it was chubby, little me in green tights, singing some stupid song about not wanting to grow up.”

Frankie smiles fondly at her. “I bet that you looked astoundingly cute,” she says with mock seriousness.

Gee scoffs. “The other kids didn't think so,” she says rather wistfully. Actually, she got to take a lot of shit because of that one.

“Look,” Frankie takes another step closer and starts speaking again. “Mikey told me that you have a notebook filled with lyrics. That’s one more proof that you are very interested in creating music and that is also good news for the band because, you know, sometimes Bob comes up with this shitty ideas for new songs, and when I say shitty is because they are really shitty, so we also need a lyricist and…”

“Frankie,” Gee cuts her off. The other girl stops talking at once and looks at her intently.

Okay, time to get real.

“I…” Gee sighs and fights the knot that has formed in his throat all of the sudden. Music has always been her passion and yes, she dreams of being in a band, but…

“You have stage fright,” Frankie says after a moment during which Gee struggles to let the words out. “I know that too.” She huffs. “Gee,” Frankie finally closes the distance between. Now she’s standing right in front of her, looking at her with those big, hazel eyes. Gee can’t stand the earnestness in her tone and the intensity of her gaze, so she looks down and focuses on a spot on the floor. “I’ve been doing this practically half my life, and I can tell you: it never gets old. I still get really fucking nervous every time I get on stage. It can be really fucking scary being up there sometimes, but, you know what?”  As she says that last part, Frankie reaches out and grabs one of Gee’s hand lightly. The unexpected touch makes Gee look up and lock eyes with the other girl. “It can be really fucking gratifying too,” adds Frankie with what Gee can only describe as a proud smile. Gee presses her lips together so she doesn’t smile back, although she kind of knows what Frankie’s talking about.

“Gee, I wouldn’t like to see someone as talented as you lose the opportunity of really knowing what it is like being on stage, playing music and doing something that you really love, so, ” she pauses to grab Gee’s other hand. “Will you give it a try?”

Gee sighs again and shakes her head slowly. She knows her limits; she knows that you can’t defeat extreme shyness, self-esteem issues and a serious case of stage fright with a well-meaning speech. If she’s going to do this, she has to work on a lot of things in order to obtain a good result, and she honestly doesn’t know if she’s prepared to do that.

Frankie studies her for a moment until she seems to figure out the source of Gee’s reluctance.

“Hey,” she says. Her voice and expression changes to a totally chirpy one. “Let’s try one thing,” she proposes and starts walking to the back door. She opens it and stands on the top step. “If you don’t feel okay after doing this, I’ll leave you alone.” She says solemnly, holding Gee’s coat out so she can reach it. Gee takes the piece of clothing and contemplates the offer while she puts it on.

On the one hand, she has no idea of what Frankie has in mind. It could be something embarrassing or something crazy, but in the other hand, it could be her only way out of this crazy situation, so she accepts, not before establishing some conditions.

“Fine, but you won’t bring the audition thing again or anything related to it, okay?”

Frankie nods. “Okay”.

“So,” Gee says as she walks out to where Frankie is standing. “What do you want me to do?”

“I want you to sing for me”.

“Frankie,” Gee starts protesting, but the other girl cuts her off.

“Just one song,” she says raising one finger at her. “And you know what? I won’t be even looking at you. I know that people staring at you while you perform is one of the scariest things, so I won’t be looking at you”. As she explains this, she takes a hold of Gee’s left hand once again and leads her to the second step while she remains on the top one. This makes their height difference practically disappear, which is more evident the moment that Frankie slides her other hand under Gee’s coat and around her waist and pulls her body closer. At that, Gee let’s out a startled gasp. For a girl with such a small frame, Frankie is surprisingly strong and she is so damn pretty. Gee can’t help but to notice, especially now that their faces are just a few inches away and she can practically count her eyelashes.

“This way, you can sing directly in my ear,” Frankie leans forward and carefully tilts her head to the side and over Gee’s shoulder. Her voice is low and kind of husk. Gee had never heard her using that sexy voice before, that’s probably the reason why it makes her whimper a little.

Gee feels completely overwhelmed by all this, by Frankie’s bold, unexpected move, by their sudden closeness, and the warmth of her body surrounding hers, and by the pressure that the other girl’s hand is exerting on her lower back, a pressure that, somehow, also seems to have an effect on her chest, because she can feel her breath hitching now and…

Okay, she can do this. It’s just one song, right in her ear. Okay.

Gee takes a deep breath, uses her tongue to moist her all-of-the-sudden dry lips and starts singing.

“Long ago, just like the hearse, you die to get in again…”

A shiver seems to pass through Frankie’s body as Gee sings the first bars. She doesn’t sing at full volume, even when she requires it in order to reach some of the notes. Instead, she keeps a volume that is more suited for this kind of intimate setting.

This song is so emotional and personal. Gee had never sung it to anyone and yet it is like she’s sung it a million times. The words come out easily and the emotions they evoke are familiar so it’s easy for her to connect with the song and deliver a really heartfelt and honest interpretation, even in the absence of accompaniment. A cappella singing can be really tricky, Gee knows that, but she focuses to stay in tune, although staying focused is kind of hard with all the distractions that the closeness of Frankie’s body is provided, along with the fact that they’re standing out in the cold of a late November evening.

“So long and goodnight…” she finishes and the pressure in her lower back eases as Frankie drops her hand.

The two girls remain quiet for a moment and neither of them moves. Gee’s chest is heaving. She’s a little breathless like she has always been after singing an entire song, but then she notices that it’s not only her chest that is moving a little faster than normal, it’s also Frankie’s, who is now pulling back and staring at Gee with fascination? Her mouth is slightly open and her pupils are so blown that she can only see a thin circle of hazel rimming them.   

“Wow,” Frankie breathes out, then, all of the sudden her amazement turns into some kind of singing-induced joy. A huge smile appears on her face.

“Gee, you’re fucking amazing! Oh my god!” She chuckles out a laugh and Gee grins back at her and kind of giggles, more in confusion than anything else, but still it feels good laughing after pouring out such dark emotions into the song.

“That’s one of your songs, right?” Asks Frankie, exuding excitement.

“Yeah,” Gee nods.

“Well that’s a hit, right there. I can tell”.

Gee giggles again. They grin at each other silently for a moment and it doesn’t matter that is fucking freezing out here, Gee can’t be cold having such a warm smile directed at her.

“It wasn’t that hard, was it?”

“No,” Gee shakes her head. “Not really,” she replies in all honesty.

“Well, now imagine yourself doing the same thing in front of four other people, one of them your brother.” Frankie says. “That can’t be that scary, right?”

“Mikey?” Gee frowns. “Is he a member of the band now?”

“Well, we needed someone who played the bass. Mikey plays the bass. That was a very easy decision, now that I think about it,” answers Frankie with a little shrug.

Gee’s mind suddenly floods with memories of the times when she and her brother were younger and they used to talk about being in a band together and making it with all the seriousness and passion that teenage kids put into this kind of things. They never got to do it, though. With Gee going to art school and then struggling to get a job in her field, and then with Mikey getting a job at Eyeball and being busy all the time, they never managed to put a band together, but now this could be the opportunity that they’ve been waiting for. This could be it.

“Okay,” Gee says in a sudden rush of boldness. “I’ll do it”.

Frankie squeals with glee, then she tackles Gee and hugs her tight, so tight that she has trouble breathing. Being on the receiving end of one of Frankie’s full-body hugs is great, more than great, actually, but still Gee needs her supply of air. When she informs this to Frankie, the other girl steps back kind of sheepishly.

“Sorry, ” she mutters.

She doesn’t cut the physical contact, though, because then hops down and puts an arm around Gee´s shoulders in a position that is a little awkward given the height difference between them, something that the shorter girl seems to dismiss completely in favor of keeping a close distance.

As they walk back into the shop, Frankie is telling her all about her ideas for new songs, band logos, band names and all kinds of things. She is speaking so fast, practically vibrating with enthusiasm, and yeah, Gee can understand the feeling because she has ideas too, lots of them.

**Author's Note:**

> Thanks for reading :D  
> Comments are always welcome.


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